We already know what happens when chef David Barzelay and the team of two Michelin-starred Lazy Bear open a more casual spot. Bar-centric with stellar bar food True Laurel is one of the best bars in the nation, thanks to the inspired, one-of-a-kind cocktails of owner Nicolas (Nic) Torres (also behind the new Buddy bar). As of December 8, 2021, Barzelay and partner Matthew Kirk (former sous chef of Lazy Bear) opened Automat, just north of the Panhandle (actual NoPa) in the former Green Chile Kitchen space.
As a champion of Lazy Bear and True Laurel both since day one, I’d go to any place this team opened. As a restaurant I can walk to from home, I was thrilled. After I visited, even more so. First, there’s the win of it being an all-day space with order-at-the-counter bakery and breakfast items, plus lunch and dinner. Then there’s a tight wine and beer list and an upbeat, friendly staff team. You can also order online for easy pickup, with delivery and seven-day-a-week hours coming soon.
The space is chill, hip, and completely transformed from its former look. It feels more airy and open, with a 1980s feel, wall mural created by Madeleine Tonzi, teals, blues, and greens touched with peachy pink. The big wraparound windows of the corner spot are especially inviting during the day, confirming a laid-back neighborhood vibe.
Lazy Bear is already one of the great standouts anywhere in fine dining, feeling more like a dinner party with its moveable feast starting upstairs in the striking, charred wood walled space overlooking the kitchen and communal tables below where the feast progresses. The food is superb, vintage spirits and wine lists rich and the experience unparalleled.
While Automat is totally different, like True Laurel, there is whimsy and savvy guiding their delicious excellence on a plate, best showcased in bites like a Jack in the Box-inspired crispy beef taco. With a slice of cheddar peeking out from the fried taco shell, it’s a gourmet version of a junk food guilty pleasure. It’s one heavenly little bite. Ditto the grilled cheese on their house Wondermat! Wonderbread-reminiscent (but far better) bread. Alongside “Cheez Buddy” smashburgers, these are the kinds of playful delights the “Big & Little Kids” section of the menu holds. The child in you will be asking you when it can come back.
Matthew Kirk launched Automat as a pop-up in 2016 and with two kids of his own, wanted a place of quality that was inclusive of the kids, too. Thankfully, this is for the (gourmet) kid in all of us, though the aforementioned treats are anything but “fancy.” The menu’s range is one of Automat’s big “wins,” as it really is a “something for everyone” kind of place. Even a ubiquitous hot fried chicken sandwich is in a batter of “hot maple crunch,” graced with seaweed aioli and pumpkin seed slaw on a housemade milk bun. Hell, yes. And I’m going back for that effing bulgogi big mac, a vegetarian umami play centered around roasted oyster mushrooms.
Automat’s head baker Casey Wentworth (formerly at Tartine, Ad Astra Bread Co) is killing it on the bread front. Besides the aforementioned Wondermat bread (also sold by the loaf), he’s got a range of sourdoughs, including an Everything Bagel sourdough, honey tahini whole wheat sourdough and an absolutely irresistible garlicky pretzel focaccia. All-day pastries change, running the gamut from spicy pork hand pies to banana bread to cinnamon berry crunch breakfast cookies. Also on the “bready” side, I couldn’t resist the sour tang and mochi-esque chew of the crispy sourdough pancake.
This sure ain’t just about the bread — although it could be. At dinner, a “simple” snack of pepperoni peppers laced in olive oil, basil and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is forgeddaboutit good, assuaging the Sicilian in me with a little something different. A generous bowl of spicy beet chicories salad also has the spirit of Italian panzanella laced with oh-so-good sourdough croutons. But it’s panzanella by way of Southeast Asia as the salad is laden with chicken larb, Thai basil and mint in a tangy lime fish sauce vinaigrette.
Brown butter-seared cabbage in house carrot A1 sauce under crispy fried leeks is all about the smothering orange sauce contrasting the butter crunch of the cabbage and leeks. A sweet potato pave is a layered mound of tender potato oozing with Mt. Tam whizz cheese, dotted with pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and the “it” salsa of the moment I have had on no less than three menus the last couple weeks alone (including The Matheson in Healdsburg): salsa macha. Since I first tasted it in Mexico, this Veracruz-originated chili oil “salsa” showcases dried chiles, garlic, nuts and seeds fried in oil, with peanuts making it sing. Earthy, nutty, silky, it adds an umami-depth to a dish that almost recalls Sichuan douban (more on Sichuan cuisine and my travels through its home region of Chengdu, China, here).
Then grilled pastrami short rib arrives and “hot damn” is about as eloquent as I can get. The sweet-fatty-savory goodness of the meat is further perfected by the contrast of fresh horseradish and dill pickled onions, while white barbecue sauce in proper Alabama style adds creamy dimension. Accompanying lettuce cups give it a Korean bo ssam vibe as you wrap up the meat and pickles in lettuce.
You know I’m always the first to say how crucial the right drinks and pairings are to any meal and Automat nails this, too. Adam Wren served us, a friendly, thoughtful sommelier I remember from Commonwealth (which I still miss) and Lazy Bear in the past. With the likes of SF brewery great Cellarmaker on draft (like their Cloudy with a Chance of Dobis Hazy IPA), the wine side runs natural and organic, with unsung small California producers like the earthy, partially carbonic 2017 Krater Cellars Cabernet Franc from the Sierra Foothills. Global wines also line the menu, including a producer I love — 2019 Iclivi San Puerto Fruilano — from one of my (many) favorite regions in Italy: Friuli. Unexpected surprises are found in a Serbian wine selection, 2019 Maurer Fodor Olaszrizling from Subotica, a natural orange wine that evokes citrus and stone fruit, blossoms and tea tannins. On the non-alcoholic side, there’s the likes of carrot ginger kombucha.
When I heard there was an “ants on a log”-inspired dessert, I actually let out a little squeal of happiness. An overlooked childhood favorite — since I was and am the savory-sweet/ savory dessert type — celery, peanut butter, raisins are transformed into a buttermilk panna cotta under roasted grapes, peanut brittle and an icy-cool green celery granita. May this one remain on the menu (pretty please!)
Daytime visits are order-at-the-counter, cafe-casual, with a short menu heavy on daily pastries, donuts, breads, sandwiches and salads, Andytown Coffee and spare few wines and beers. Whether a trout tartine or “cheez buddy” double smashburger, it’s a happy lunch. But, damn, that bulgogi big mac! Who knew roasted oyster mushrooms, cheese, house sauce, shredded lettuce and jalapeño on a house wheat sourdough baguette would taste like a Big Mac?! The little mushrooms fall out everywhere, making it hard to eat, but I’m already craving another.
A couple of the big meaty dishes range upper $20s to $31, but almost the whole menu hovers in the teens or even under $10, when it comes to the entire “Big & Little Kids” section. This ease and playfulness in the hands of a team like Kirk and crew is a gift. As someone who dines out daily everywhere for research, I never have the luxury of being a regular anywhere. But were I to pick, I’d want to be a regular here.
// 1801 McAllister Street, https://automatsf.com
